Celtic

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Celtic. A subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. In antiquity, speakers of Celtic languages could be found in what is today Turkey (the Galatians of St Paul's letters), the Balkans, and most of central and western Europe from the Danube valley to the British Isles, including large portions of northern Italy and the Iberian peninsula. In modern times the living Celtic languages have been Irish, Scottish Gaelic, and Manx (now extinct) from the Goidelic or Q-Celtic branch, and Welsh, Cornish (now extinct), and Breton from the Brythonic, Cymric, or P-Celtic branch. Despite stereotypes, the Celtic languages have been spoken by a wide variety of physical types, from short and dark to tall and fair.

Much controversy surrounds speculation on the meaning of the word ‘Celt’. It appears to be derived from the Greek keltoí, used to denote a people north of what is now Marseilles. Julius Caesar also reported that the Gauls described themselves as Celtae. The perception that the Celtic languages were all related was slow in coming, and thus the word ‘Celtic’ did not always denote all the Celtic-speaking peoples. Classical commentators did not call the inhabitants of the British Isles Celts, and the word ‘Celt’ has no counterpart in Old Irish or Old Welsh, as speakers of those languages did not see themselves as forming a linguistic community. The term ‘Celtic language’ was not used in English with its present meaning until the begining of the 18th century, first popularized by Paul-Yves Pezron's Antiquité de la nation, etc. (1706) and established the next year by Edward Lhuyd in Archaeologia Britannica (1707).

Bibliography

See Malcolm Chapman , The Celts: The Construction of a Myth (London and New York, 1992)

Celtic. Epithet of the peoples now identified as Bretons, Cornish, Irish, Manx, and Scots Gaels, originally Aryans. Early Celtic art seems to have become widespread, or widely influential, from c. C5 bc throughout the Rhineland, Central Europe, the Balkans, and Northern Italy, then in France, Ireland, and Britain c. C3 bc. Later, during the first millennium ad, its art-forms embraced influences from Byzantium, Early Christian, Etruscan, Greek, Oriental, and Syrian precedents. Characteristic elements are abstract patterns such as the triquetrac (triangular three-lobed form of interlaced crescents), triskele (Y-shaped forms), and trumpet-pattern (trumpet shapes with sinuous forms between), complex interlaced stalks and ribbons, knots, spirals, and highly stylized flora and fauna. Celtic art influenced other styles, especially Anglo-Saxon, Hiberno-Romanesque, and Romanesque architectural enrichment, and reached its highest architectural development between c.650 and c.1150 with masterpieces such as the Bewcastle Cross, Cumb. (C7).

Bibliography

Lewis & Darley (1986);
Jane Turner (1996).

Celt·ic / ˈkeltik; ˈsel-/ • adj. of or relating to the Celts or their languages, which constitute a branch of the Indo-European family and include Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Breton, Manx, Cornish, and several extinct pre-Roman languages such as Gaulish. • n. the Celtic language group. See also P-Celtic, Q-Celtic. DERIVATIVES: Celt·i·cism / ˈkeltəˌsizəm; ˈsel-/ n. Celt·i·cist / ˈkeltəˌsist; ˈsel-/ n.

CELTIC. [Pronounced ‘Keltic’ or ‘Seltic’.]
1. Of the Celts, their languages, and culture.

2. An inclusive term for the CELTIC LANGUAGES, particularly the Common Celtic of ancient Europe and the British dialects of the first millennium AD. The term sometimes occurs in combinations: ‘The Norman-Irish and the Celtic-Irish were drawn nearer to one another by common sorrows’ ( G. Bancroft, History of the United States, 1876).

Celtic •achromatic, acrobatic, Adriatic, aerobatic, anagrammatic, aquatic, aristocratic, aromatic, Asiatic, asthmatic, athematic, attic, autocratic, automatic, axiomatic, bureaucratic, charismatic, chromatic, cinematic, climatic, dalmatic, democratic, diagrammatic, diaphragmatic, diplomatic, dogmatic, dramatic, ecstatic, emblematic, emphatic, enigmatic, epigrammatic, erratic, fanatic, hepatic, hieratic, hydrostatic, hypostatic, idiomatic, idiosyncratic, isochromatic, lymphatic, melodramatic, meritocratic, miasmatic, monochromatic, monocratic, monogrammatic, numismatic, operatic, panchromatic, pancreatic, paradigmatic, phlegmatic, photostatic, piratic, plutocratic, pneumatic, polychromatic, pragmatic, prelatic, prismatic, problematic, programmatic, psychosomatic, quadratic, rheumatic, schematic, schismatic, sciatic, semi-automatic, Socratic, somatic, static, stigmatic, sub-aquatic, sylvatic, symptomatic, systematic, technocratic, thematic, theocratic, thermostatic, traumatic •anaphylactic, ataractic, autodidactic, chiropractic, climactic, didactic, galactic, lactic, prophylactic, syntactic, tactic •asphaltic •antic, Atlantic, corybantic, frantic, geomantic, gigantic, mantic, necromantic, pedantic, romantic, semantic, sycophantic, transatlantic •synaptic •bombastic, drastic, dynastic, ecclesiastic, elastic, encomiastic, enthusiastic, fantastic, gymnastic, iconoclastic, mastic, monastic, neoplastic, orgastic, orgiastic, pederastic, periphrastic, plastic, pleonastic, sarcastic, scholastic, scholiastic, spastic •matchstick • candlestick • panstick •slapstick • cathartic •Antarctic, arctic, subantarctic, subarctic •Vedantic • yardstick •aesthetic (US esthetic), alphabetic, anaesthetic (US anesthetic), antithetic, apathetic, apologetic, arithmetic, ascetic, athletic, balletic, bathetic, cosmetic, cybernetic, diabetic, dietetic, diuretic, electromagnetic, emetic, energetic, exegetic, frenetic, genetic, Helvetic, hermetic, homiletic, kinetic, magnetic, metic, mimetic, parenthetic, pathetic, peripatetic, phonetic, photosynthetic, poetic, prophetic, prothetic, psychokinetic, splenetic, sympathetic, syncretic, syndetic, synthetic, telekinetic, theoretic, zetetic •apoplectic, catalectic, dialectic, eclectic, hectic •Celtic •authentic, crescentic •aseptic, dyspeptic, epileptic, nympholeptic, peptic, proleptic, sceptic (US skeptic), septic •domestic, majestic •cretic •analytic, anchoritic, anthracitic, arthritic, bauxitic, calcitic, catalytic, critic, cryptanalytic, Cushitic, dendritic, diacritic, dioritic, dolomitic, enclitic, eremitic, hermitic, lignitic, mephitic, paralytic, parasitic, psychoanalytic, pyritic, Sanskritic, saprophytic, Semitic, sybaritic, syenitic, syphilitic, troglodytic •apocalyptic, cryptic, diptych, elliptic, glyptic, styptic, triptych •aoristic, artistic, autistic, cystic, deistic, distich, egoistic, fistic, holistic, juristic, logistic, monistic, mystic, puristic, sadistic, Taoistic, theistic, truistic, veristic •fiddlestick •dipstick, lipstick •impolitic, politic •polyptych • hemistich • heretic •nightstick •abiotic, amniotic, antibiotic, autoerotic, chaotic, demotic, despotic, erotic, exotic, homoerotic, hypnotic, idiotic, macrobiotic, meiotic, narcotic, neurotic, osmotic, patriotic, psychotic, quixotic, robotic, sclerotic, semiotic, symbiotic, zygotic, zymotic •Coptic, optic, panoptic, synoptic •acrostic, agnostic, diagnostic, gnostic, prognostic •knobstick • chopstick • aeronautic •Baltic, basaltic, cobaltic •caustic • swordstick • photic • joystick •psychotherapeutic, therapeutic •acoustic • broomstick • cultic •fustic, rustic •drumstick • gearstick • lunatic